What is a Legal Nurse Consultant?
A Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC) is a licensed registered nurse who performs a critical analysis of health care facts and issues and their outcomes for the legal profession, health care professions, and others, as appropriate. With a strong education and experiential background, the LNC is qualified to assess adherence to standards of health care practice as it applies to the nursing and health care profession.
What is the Role of the Legal Nurse Consultant?
The role of the LNC includes evaluation, analysis, and the rendering of informed opinions on the delivery of health care and the resulting outcomes. An LNC is an expert on nursing and the health care system, and is a specialized member of the litigation team whose professional contributions help to achieve a fair and just outcome for all parties. LNCs assist with discovery, conduct medical research, create demonstrative evidence, identify standards of care, review medical records, prepare reports on the extent of injury or illness, and act as an expert witness.
LNCs provide support in medical-related litigation and other medical-legal matters, as they relate to nursing and the following practice areas:
• Personal injury
• Product liability
• Medical malpractice
• Workers’ compensation
• Toxic torts
• Risk management
• Medical licensure investigation
• Fraud and abuse, compliance
• Criminal law
• Elder law
• Other applicable cases
